I think someone owes LTT a bit of an apology. LTT was really pissed at the guys over at TTB for their doubt about his abilities. Any way, good to see our guys rank that high to other teams and its not just the bias of him being blue.

Kiffin does what he wants with minimum personal consequences. Every failure has been rewarded with a promotion. Why on earth would he stop being an asshole now, when it has worked so well for him in the past?

I live in TN and the fans in Knoxville along with the mayor wanted to rename the landfill after him! True story. UT fans hate him and everytime I bring him up they cringe! Too funny but the guy is a great liar and great recruiter because of it.

Maybe I am in the minority here, but I don't really think Kiffin is so bad. First of all, he's a hell of a coach. He left Tennessee abruptly, but he left that program in pretty good shape, (Bray, Berry, Arnett...oh wait) at least better than he found it. I mean, look at Dooley, he might not oversign but he is just a prick. Their AD should have known that USC was the job Kiffin coveted and stayed away but he wanted to make a big splash hiring. The AD ran Fulmer out of town and hasn't been able to make a good decision since, so maybe it was just karma. Then in terms of what he is doing with USC, a lot of people discredit it because it's USC, but they are in the middle of some pretty tough sanctions (especially compared to Ohio) and what he is doing with the limited players he has available is remarkable.

As far as Kiffin recruiting against us, Haaaaaaaaaaaaa....Good Luck Lane!

My understanding is that he has one of THOSE coaching personalities - abrasive, agressive, defensive, focused on goal therefore comes of distant and cold, willing to do anything to win etc...Not qualities that make your fanbase like you unless you win a ton of games ala Nick Saban (Kiffin went 7-5 with the Vols). And qualities that make other fanbases dislike you as well. Also he didn't tell his own brother in law that he got a new job and kind of peaced out without him. Add to that, the Vols kind of like their football program, so students weren't happy that he was leaving after 14 months. Burning mattresses and the such to prove their point. Put this all together and you get the perfect media frenzy of "what a douche". That's going to be public perception of Kiffin for awhile. Todd Graham is now in that boat as well. No one likes the idea that their school is the stepping stone. They want to be THE destination. Once you get on that coaching carousel, you're going to risk pissing off some fanbase once you get off. Also gives rivals an easy "this is why you suck" bandwagon to jump on.

RR got the same treatment when he left WVU - burning furniture and all. And the few people that care about SDSU kind of felt the same way when Hoke left them (Kyle Turley anyone?). The only thing that kind of helped Hoke (aside from the fact that SDSU doesn't have much of a fanbase) was the fact that their school president kept telling people in interviews that Michigan was Hoke's dream job before the job was even availible. Not entirely sure why he was doing it, but from my understanding it did help "ease the pain".

Tennessee is quite a bit more prestigious of a program than the other ones you mentioned. All through the 1990s up through 2004 anything less than a 9-win season was a shocker for them. They were also a top 3 team in attendance from 1976 through 2006. They're still the second-most prestigious program in the SEC if you look at all-time records, even with what LSU, Florida, and Auburn have done recently.

They've had a full roster and delayed the scholarship penalties with a failed appeal. We'll see how he does going forward. The first year of reduced scholarships shouldn't matter much either. Missing out on upperclassmen should mean a lot more than having fewer freshmen.

Great post. I am surprised by how easily the very intelligent people on here fall into the tired stereotypes played up by the national media.

People in Tennessee are in fantasy land thinking their job is comparable. This is a California guy being asked to take the best job on the west coast that might not come open again in a decade if ever. Most of the hate is just sour grapes from small town crackers who can't face reality in the situation. He spent a year luring actual talent to a program that had been allowed to wither by past his prime Phil Fulmer.

USC, Miami, Michigan, Washington, Arizona State, UCLA, Wisconsin, Texas are always going to have a leg up because of the size and location in or near great cities with a lot to offer. They are easier to recruit to. Tennessee for it's part relies almost exclusively on out of state talent because high school football there is so poor.

It was a no-brainer decision for a west coast guy and former Carroll assistant. I am sure he probably would have preferred it opened up further down the line to avoid the criticism that he cut and run.

Kiffin made a huge vertical move for himself and his family. Start with 320 sunny temperate days a year and an hours drive to the mountains or beach.

Here's reality: He's doing a great job out there navigating through some very unfair sanctions as well. As far as the baseless cheating allegations people like to throw around, ask Pat Haden if he is comfortable with him. He is the current AD, Three Time Rose Bowl and two time national champion quarterback, Rhodes Scholar, and clean cut choir boy face of the program. He was brought in with total power in rebuilding the new USC program to be totally rule compliant. His motto is: I don't want to do something that might embarrass my mom.

He had no ties to Kiffin when he took over and elected to keep him. He has publicly endorsed Kiffin and his honesty too many times to count.

As far as the offers, great for Michigan. It shows we are going to be awesome down the road because Kiffin is an ace recruiter. He only offers elite national talent.

If I had enough points I would upvote this in a second. I am no fan of Kiffin either, I find him arrogant when I don't find him annoying or childish. But do you know how rare it is for someone to be well liked and highly successful?

Nick Saban gets made fun of for being short and angry and oversigning

Les Miles gets called insane and mad all the time.

Bielema has won at least a share of the big ten the past two years...nevermind...bad example, he's just a major douche and there's no way around that.

And Kiffin gets projected as a child, immature and selfish.

I agree, he did what he had to and will continue to do everything he can to keep USC going at a high level. Any complaint about that is just sour grapes.

They are easier to recruit to. Tennessee for it's part relies almost exclusively on out of state talent because high school football there is so poor

I have no love for the Vols, but they rank #10 all tie in wins (right behind USC, FWIW). Next on his list is Washington, which is around #24. Most of the rest rank well behind MSU. Having to recruit out of state (though I do question how great Arizona, Washington and Wisconsin schools are doing by recruiting just in-state) or being by big cities (and I'm still not sure how much recruits are clamoring to go to Phoenix, Seattle, or Detroit for that matter, either) hasn't made any of these schools easier to recruit to. Because they've gotten players who are not as good for decades. And it has been reflected on the field with far fewer wins.

If one wants to say USC is a better program than Tennessee, yeah sure (though really, getting around LA is a pain, and the USC campus is in the middle of risk your life territory). Tradition, history, visibility, perks. But Arizona State?? It might not be the best program in the State.

FWIW, the mods on that board, along with Helmholdt in a post this morning, suggest that Dawson and LTT may not be as firmly committed as we'd like to believe. Obviously I can't relay exactly what they've written, but according to speculation, these were very calculated offers.

I actually think they're more firmly committed than the USC fans would like to believe.

Out of the two, LTT might be one to maybe worry about, but worry in the sense that I worry about getting run over by a car. The chance is always there, but barring something crazy, won't happen. I think if/when Treadwill commit, that will very much secure LTT. However, if there is a domino effect where Isaac goes to USC - Treadwill goes with him, then we'd have to worry (there was some Isaac-Treadwill twitter talk going on a few days before Isaac's USC visit - I need to get off twitter).

Like I've said before, Dawson already has the plans in motion to enroll early at Michigan. That's a very solid commit that's going to be hard to sway. Also, because he's in Detroit, the coaches are able to make a lot more at home visits with him. Furthermore, the coaches seem to be really building the relationship with Cass Tech. With the crazy multi-prong attack Michigan has going on there, Dawson will be hard to flip.

All that being said, for all I know, these commits are all part of some evil genius plan by other coaches to screw Michigan over on NSD. There was a lot of speculation on my part and a lot of my own opinons involved.

I don't care what the USC fans think about anything, but Helmholdt and this particular USC mod are not just fans. They are proven commodities with inside access to the kids, in Helmholdt's case, or to the USC program, in the mod's case. Helmholdt actually used to work for the Michigan site before becoming Rivals' guy for the entire Midwest, so his connections in Michigan are solid.

The mod is very, very, confident about their chances with Dawson; less so with LTT. I still don't think it will happen, but another Pharaoh Brown situation with Dawson wouldn't surprise me at this point.

Even though we brought it some good OLs last year, SC signed Zach Banner and Kyle Murphy at OT last year, two of the top tackles in the country. I'm not saying LTT is scared of competition or anything, but those are two big time kids who might have starting spots locked up for a while before LTT gets to campus.

EDIT: OTOH, they only took one interior OL last year, and with their scholarship limits, Dawson might see SC as a path to early PT. I'm sure he's being sold on how badly he's needed.

So this isn't on you, but the mod....what made him think there was such a good chance at a flip, enough so that he'd publish it, without even having talked to the kid? How can he be credited as an inside source if he's just throwing stuff out there? Did he give any explanation for his prior view?